RiverFront Investment Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Walmart Inc. $WMT

RiverFront Investment Group LLC raised its position in Walmart Inc. (NYSE:WMT) by 3.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 634,509 shares of the retailer’s stock after buying an additional 22,027 shares during the period. RiverFront Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Walmart were worth $62,042,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Walmart by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 431,817,510 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $42,223,116,000 after buying an additional 5,856,468 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC raised its stake in shares of Walmart by 397,264.9% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 104,514,912 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $10,496,702,000 after purchasing an additional 104,488,610 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Walmart by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 94,557,532 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $9,199,712,000 after purchasing an additional 263,718 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Walmart by 30.1% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 33,292,749 shares of the retailer’s stock valued at $2,922,770,000 after purchasing an additional 7,706,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Walmart by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 30,874,987 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $2,710,665,000 after purchasing an additional 387,424 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WMT has been the topic of a number of research reports. Telsey Advisory Group upped their target price on Walmart from $118.00 to $130.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Walmart from $128.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Erste Group Bank raised Walmart from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 5th. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $115.00 target price (up from $111.00) on shares of Walmart in a report on Friday. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on Walmart from $110.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Thirty-one research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $118.55.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO C Douglas Mcmillon sold 19,416 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.97, for a total value of $1,863,353.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 4,392,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $421,594,770.45. This represents a 0.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CTO Suresh Kumar sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.47, for a total transaction of $3,104,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer directly owned 1,787,200 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $184,921,584. This represents a 1.65% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 151,013 shares of company stock valued at $15,616,747 in the last ninety days. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Walmart Stock Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE WMT opened at $103.85 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $103.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.96. Walmart Inc. has a 12-month low of $79.81 and a 12-month high of $109.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $827.98 billion, a PE ratio of 39.04, a P/E/G ratio of 4.83 and a beta of 0.67.

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 20th. The retailer reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. Walmart had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 21.45%. The firm had revenue of $179.50 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $175.15 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.58 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Walmart has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.580-2.630 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Walmart Inc. will post 2.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Walmart Profile

Walmart Inc engages in the operation of retail, wholesale, other units, and eCommerce worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Walmart U.S., Walmart International, and Sam's Club. It operates supercenters, supermarkets, hypermarkets, warehouse clubs, cash and carry stores, and discount stores under Walmart and Walmart Neighborhood Market brands; membership-only warehouse clubs; ecommerce websites, such as walmart.com.mx, walmart.ca, flipkart.com, PhonePe and other sites; and mobile commerce applications.